Process for preparing goods for finishing.



D. F. MAYNE. PROCESS FOR PREPARING GOODS FOR FINISHING.

Patented Oct. 8, 1918.

APPLICATION FILED APR. I4. 19H.

IN VE/I/TOR D. F. MAYNE. PROCESS FOR PREPARING GOODS FOR FINISHING.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 14, I91].

Patented Oct. 8, 1918.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

DAVID F. MAYNE, OF WILMINGTON, DELAWARE.

PROCESS FOR PREPARING GOODS FOR FINISHING.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 8, 1918.

Application filed April 14, 1917. Serial No. 162,221.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DAVID F. MAYNE, of Wilmington, in the county of Newcastle, and in the State of Delaware, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Processes for Preparing Goods for Finishing, and do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description" thereof.

My invention relates particularly to a process for preparing goods for finishing, that is to say for preparing them for subsequent singeing, bleaching, dyeing or swing, as well as the apparatus for use in connection therewith, and it has application to all kinds of goods, as for example, woolen, cotton, linen and silk fabrics of all kinds.

The object of my invention is to provide a process by means of which piece goods may be effectively prepared for the finishing thereof with a minimum amount of labor and at a minimum cost, and in an effective manner. Hitherto piece goods has been prepared by a crude and clumsy process involving the manual lifting of said pleces one after another, each of which weighs from ten to seventy-five pounds, and the manipulation of the same in an awkward manner, requiring a very great amount of labor and raising the cost of treatment to a corresponding degree. It is the object of my invention to avoid these disadvantages, and to prepare the goods for finishing in a man ner such as to avoid the great amount of labor and the large cost previously found necessary. Further objects of my invention will be apparent from the detailed description thereof contained hereinafter.

. While my invention is capable of embodiment in many different forms, for the purposes of illustration I have described only one form thereof, and in connection with only one type of apparatus used there: with, the same being also shown in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view of an apparatus which may be used in connection with my process;

Fig. 2 shows the position of a piece or goods after having been put through the first operation after the opening of the bale;

Fig. 3 shows the next operation, showing the free edge withdrawn to one side thereof;

Fig. 4 shows the next position of the same in the condition in which it passes down the chute;

Fig. 5 shows the next step in throwing the free edge to the other side of the piece of cloth,

Fig. 6 shows the next position of the cloth piece with the remaining free edge thrown to the same side of the piece, and

Fig. 7 shows the two free ends of adjacent pieces of cloth united together by stitching.

In the drawings I have shown a cross section of a factory building having a first floor 1 and a second floor 2. The first floor 1 has a set of tracks 3 to receive a truck 4 which is arranged at the lower end of a chute 5 composed of a bottom portion 6 and side flanges 7, said chute having a yoke 8'at its lower end fastened to a rope 9 which passes over a pulley 10 attached to the floor 2, said pulley 10 being of the type provided with a spiral groove so as to catch the rope 9 in any desired position. The upper end of the chute 5 has hinges 11 attached to the floor 2, and is arranged with its side flanges 7 extending above the surfaces of the floor 2 so as to effectively guide the cloth pieces down the same. It will be noted that the upper ends of the flanges 7 are cut away to provide recesses 12 to receive corresponding extensions 13 upon the floor, so as to obviate the presence of any cracks which could catch the edge of the cloth. Furthermore from the top of the floor 2 there is a metallic strip 14: secured thereto by screws 15 to cover over the joint between the chute 5 and the floor 2.

In the operation of my invention, a plurality of cloth pieces 16, folded as indicated in Fig. 1 and secured together in the form of a bale, is deposited in front of the chute 5, with the cloth pieces arranged in the posi tion indicated in Fig. 1. The fastenings of the bale are then cut or broken in any de sired way, and the various cloth pieces are then free to be put through the succeeding operations. The topmost piece in the bale is then opened at the center into the position indicated in Fig. 2, so that there is an'upper free edge 18 at one side and a lower free edge 19 at the other side thereof. The free edge 18 is then moved to the left into the position indicated in Fig. 3, until substantially three double folds are at that side of the cloth piece. Thereupon the whole clot-h piece is moved over into the position shown in Fig. 4, until the free edge 19 and the adjacent folds of the cloth piece are in effect inclosed within an outermost portion 20, which is the portion immediately adjacent to the free edge 18 first removed from the top of the cloth piece. When this has been done, the cloth piece is allowed to fall or slide from the top of the bale down the chute 5, whereupon the cloth piece is received on the truck 4. When this has been accomplished, the attendant at the truck 4 throws the free edge 18 to theright, as shown in Fig. 5, so that it is then on the side of the truck 4 located away'from the end of the chute 5, and is out of the way of the subsequent cloth pieces which are fed downwardly by the chute 5. The attendant thereafterimmediately throws the free edge 19 to the same side of the truck 4, as indicated in Fig. 6, and one cloth piece after another will be fed on to the truck in this manner, as shown in Fig. 7, so that the adjacent free ends of the cloth pieces may then be joined by stitching 21. When this has been accomplished and the entire bale has been treated in this manner, thetruck 4 containing the cloth pieces with their adj acent ends joined, is moved to the point where the finishing operations can be carried out on the same, as for example, singeing, bleaching, dyeing, sizing, etc., and the entire body of cloth is then made into one roll for subsequent'use for making up'into clothing or articles of any desired character. I

In the operation of my invention in this manner, it will be noted that the cloth piece in passing from the bale, as shown in Fig. 1, into the position shown in Fig. 2', and the position shown in Fig. 3, and into the chute 5, is-transferred in this manner without the necessity of lifting the cloth piece as a whole. At the same time the position of the parts is such, as shown in Fig. 1-, that there is no possibility of the folds becoming dislodged or disarranged during thevarious operations. Furthermore, when the cloth piece is finally received upon the truck 4, it is in a position in which the free edge 18 may be readily thrown to the other side away from the possibility of any interference with the supplying of the'subse'quent cloth pieces to the truck 4:, and in a position in which the remaining free edge 19 may be readily thrown over the top of the cloth piece on the truck 4 to a position overlying the first mentioned free edge 18. Therefore these operations of moving the cloth pieces into the necessary position for joining the ends together preparatory to the finishing operations, may be'carried out with' a very small amount of labor and at a minimum cost. Also in the operation of the chute 5'it will be understood that by having the upper ends of the flanges 7 extend above the floor 2, any chance of the cloth piece becoming caught in the chute is avoided. It will also be understood that as the bale of cloth pieces on the truck 4 accumulates, the end of the chute 5 will be raised from time to time by the operation of the rope 9 which passes over the pulley 10.

vVhile I have described my invention 7 moved the free end from the interior of the cloth piece, and inclosed the forward end of the cloth piece in said free end.

. S0 2. A process which comprlses'transferrmg 'a cloth piece from a bale to a support for the same, by feeding the same forwardly by gravity from the bale after having first removed the free end from the interior of the cloth piece, and inclosed the forward; end of the cloth piece in said free end, and then re-r 7 moving said free end from around the cloth' piece. V

3. A process which comprises transferring a cloth piece from a bale to a support for the same, by feeding the same forwardly by gravity fromthe bale after having first rea moved the free end from the interior of the cloth piece, and then'inclosed the forward end of the cloth piece in said free end, then removing said free end from around" the cloth piece, and'then throwing the remain-- ing free end to the'same side of the cloth piece as the first mentioned free end.

4. A process which comprises transferring a cloth piece from a bale to'a support'for the same, by feeding the same forwardly: by gravity from the bale after having first removed the free end from the interior of the cloth piece, and then inclosed the forward end of the cloth piece in said free end, then removing said free end from around the cloth piece, then throwing the remaining free end, and then supplying on top of'said cloth piece additional cloth pieces in a similar manner.

* 5. Aprocess which comprises transferring,

a cloth piece from a bale to a support 'for the same, by feeding the same forwardly by gravity from the bale after having first removed the free end from the interior of the cloth piece, and then" inclosed the forward end of the cloth piece'in said free end, then removing said free end from around the cloth piece, then throwing the remaining free end, then supplying on top ofsaid' cloth piece additional cloth pieces in a similar manner, and then joining together adjacent free ends of adjacent cloth pieces by stitch- 6; The process whlch consists in turnmg a bale of sheet material so that an end incloses,

the body thereof, transporting the'same to a support and guiding the same by means of said end during the transporting operation, and unwinding said end so that the same may be attached to the end of an adjacent bale.

7. The process which consists in turning a bale of sheet material so that an end incloses the body thereof, transporting the same to a support and guiding the same by means of said end during the transporting operation, and unwinding said end so that the same may be attached to the end of an adjacent bale, and drawing out the other free end of the bale so that it may be similarly attached.

8. The process which consists in unfolding the two halves of a bale of sheet material and turning the same so that the inner free end incloses the body thereof, transporting the same to a support and unwinding said free end so that the same may be attached to the end of an adjacent bale.

9. The process which consists in unfolding the two halves of a bale of sheet material and turning the same so that the inner free end incloses the body thereof, transporting the same to a support and unwinding said free end so that the same may be attached to the end of an adjacent bale, and drawing out the outer free end of the bale so that it may be similarly attached.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand.

DAVID F. MAYNE.

' Witnesses:

CLIFFORD V. MANNEBING, Banma'r SHUHMAN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. 0." 

